


One-Sided

by t0talcha0s



Category: BioShock
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 22:49:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7289215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0talcha0s/pseuds/t0talcha0s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of letters Diane McClintock wrote to Andrew Ryan after she joined the people of Apollo Square.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One-Sided

Darling Andrew, 

My faith in you is shattered. I've seen the innocents you deny the existence of and I've seen the suffering that you've caused. There are people down there in Apollo Square Andrew, real people with lives you've destroyed. I saw a woman, a dead woman, the corpse of a woman that your guards killed, they lit her on fire for trying to find a better life. She was smoldering and burning and no one batted an eye! They just turned their heads so they wouldn't inhale the ashes; and Andrew I can't be angry anymore. I'm just so ashamed, and so betrayed, and I cannot believe that I ever believed you. 

You told me this would be Eden. You swept me away to this undersea city and I didn't raise a single word of opposition when you told me it was paradise. You told me the people of Apollo Square were bandits and thieves, you told me if they didn't stand with Rapture then they wanted to destroy it but do you know what I found Andrew? I found people like me, you'd pulled the wool over their eyes and told them this would be their sanctuary, but they ended up starving and suffering. There was this little boy, in line for soup down at Fontaine's poor house, and he was so sickly Andrew. His stomach was distended and his face was so pale and so gaunt and he was hardly older then seven and you told me there were no innocents and you did this to him. You did this. 

They believed in you, like I did, and you hurt them more then you ever could have hurt me, and you hurt me so badly, but there was something on every wall, the same slogan I saw on that walk we had in Arcadia, "Who Is Atlas." Now I don't know who Atlas is, other then a strong chin on a poster and a name that could send you into a spiral of rage, but these people, these gaunt, pale, starving, innocent people in Apollo Square they know; and I intend to find out. Something tells me he's something you could never be. You're a false idol Andrew, a name and a red banner spewing rhetoric but it's nothing but empty promises. I'm sorry I ever trusted you. 

Goodbye Andrew   
\- Diane 

-

Dear Andrew, 

I've been walking the halls of Apollo Square for a few weeks now, I've seen every inch of the shame you tried to hide from me. I've seen the hanging corpses, the food lines, the generousness and camaraderie of a people you tried to squash. And yet, selfishly, I miss you. You were all I had, you found me so young, I was barely out of college when we first met wasn't I, and you took me to the finest clubs of New York, and to the finest meals I've ever eaten, and Andrew I was so very in love. Maybe with you, maybe with the life you gave me. I was so young and naive and that was exactly the life my mama told me to strive for, she told me to find myself a man that made me feel like I were flying, like if I didn't take pictures I'd miss everything; but oh what memories I have of that time. 

I miss that. I miss what we had, back when you still bothered to catch a meal with me or come home from work at least four nights a week. I miss the love we had and the adventures we took, you may not have loved me but your arms were still warm. We had a luxury together and we had love, even if it may have been superficial on your side of things. 

It's so cold here. There's no food, or certainly not enough, my clothing has become ripped and disheveled, I look the same as the people of Apollo Square but they haven't fully accepted me. I hear whispers of "Ryan's whore" or "prissy little thing" wherever I go. I miss our bed, our apartment, my home, I don't belong here. No one belongs here. But I'm here, I'm here in Apollo Square like the rest of these poor souls because of you. I may think that I have it bad but I've only just fallen from luxury, these people have suffered in this squalor for years. Sometimes I forget that this pain and suffering is all your doing, and it is in those moments that I yearn for you and everything you gave me, but then I remember you did this. The hell that I've witnessed is your fault, yours alone. If anyone deserves this pain Andrew it is you. 

Yours nevermore  
\- Diane

-

Andrew,

Today I have found an answer to the question which has bothered me since I first arrived here. The people of Apollo Square trust me now, I've learned to mend clothing, and close wounds, and shoot a gun. I'm a valued member of this revolution and today I met the man who singlehandedly keeps it going. "Who Is Atlas?" You painted him a villain, a dirty bandito with ill intentions for the people of Apollo Square and for Rapture but you have never been so wrong because he is hope for Rapture! Hope that despite all your tyrannical mistakes Rapture can again be something beautiful. I met him and I told him all of the good he was doing for the people of Apollo Square, I thanked him for being the one who will liberate them and Andrew do you know what he said?!

"I am not a liberator, liberators do not exist, these people will liberate themselves." And my world dropped out from under me and suddenly I understood. I now understand why the people of Apollo Square fight against you day after day, I understand what keeps them going. He does. He speaks so eloquently, and he shoots with straight aim, and he truly wants what is best for these people. He is selfless and you always told me altruism was the sign of a manipulative coward but Atlas is truly no con man. He cares about these people and about Rapture like you never could, you were so selfish, you just wanted all the money and all the power but Atlas has taken his command out of necessity. He is a natural born leader. I have believed in a lot of things, I've believed in God, I've believed in you, but never before have I believed in anything that is so obviously righteous. Atlas' intentions are pure and he lifts these people up while you wanted to keep them down in the pathetic conditions they dwell in. He is your antithesis and he is a bright, shining signal of good intentions in the festering politics of Rapture. I've only just met him, but I trust in him, and in the cause. 

I realize now how jaded I was when I was with you. I hardly ever laughed, or appreciated what I was given, my heart was heavy but now it has been lightened beyond belief! Even here, as I sit writing you in my disgusting quarters, there is a pile of clothing to my left, the desk I'm writing on is partially rotted, and to my right I can see rats and flies scurrying in my periphery and yet I have never felt more elated or set in my convictions. I have found the right path now Andrew, and there was no one such as you to pull me along it, this path is fully righteous and fully my own. 

Vindictively yours  
-Diane 

-

Andrew Ryan, 

I don't know what makes a man a man but I think I finally understand what makes a woman love one. I did love you, once upon a time, so briefly and so shallowly, but now. Now I know love's full power, it is like a punch in the gut and it is like the blinding beauty of the sun. I thought I knew what it was like to feel so giddy in love, but I believe with you it was just an illusion. Now, with this man, with Atlas, I know nothing but my love for him. I used to seek your approval because I looked poorly on myself without it, but now I seek his approval because it fills me with a determination and with a joy that I could never hope to capture before. I don't care what my appearance may be around him, with you each day was a fashion show, but here with my scars and my torn clothing and my ribs poking out beneath my skin all that matters is spending time with him. It truly is a shame I don't get to spend as much time with him as I would like, but we are in the midst of a revolution and that has so much work that comes with it. 

Perhaps it is a bit cruel of me, to write an old lover about how vibrantly my new flame burns, but I never knew how much you kept me sheltered and I never knew before how to fully experience love. I have never loved this fully, I'm just about dizzy thinking about it. With you, Andrew, I loved and I lost and I was so heartbroken and there was so much grief and pain I believed I never would love again. And despite every horrid thing I feel for you and for what we had I love again and I love so completely. This is an exhilaration that shall only be matched on the day that you fall. 

\- Diane.

**Author's Note:**

> It's 1:48 am and I'm back with more weird bioshock fanfiction (Can I call it fanfiction?)
> 
> Anyways my Tumblr's barefootcosplayer so hit me up there if you'd like


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